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September 1, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
A little while back, we brought you news that the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S III got a Jelly Bean leak. This is exciting news because everybody wants a little more Jelly Bean in their life—even if it’s of the OEM-provided variety. Now, Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III users can share in the benefits, as the leak has been ported.
The port was done by XDA Elite Recognized Developer myn, who’s known for the popular myn’s Warm ROM. It is not perfect and there are some issues, but the process to get those issues fixed is currently underway. For now, the only major issue is that the screen orientation has been reported as upside down. Additionally, SMS and MMS were borked in early versions, but those have been fixed with an optional SMS patch.
Aside from the little obstacles, users have reported the ROM working very well, so anyone looking to give this a shot is free to do so without worry. Given that the international version and the T-Mobile version both have leaks now, it’s only a matter of time before Sprint’s leaks start falling through the cracks. For more info, check out the original thread.
**Update**
XDA Recognized Developer, and confidant of myn, incubus26jc has managed to port the leak to the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III. You can find additional details about that in the Verizon thread.
August 18, 2012 By: jerdog
We recently told you about the CyanogenMod team beginning work on CM10. Now, a significant milestone has been reached: CM10 Nightlies have appeared for select devices. For those who aren’t familiar, a nightly build is an automatic build incorporating the latest changes in CM source for a device. Yesterday, CyanogenMod released the list of those devices that would be getting the first round of nightlies:
# The US SGS3 variants (AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint)
# The Galaxy Nexus variants
# The Nexus S varaints
# The Nexus 7
# The Transformer and Transformer Prime
# The SGS1 variants (Vibrant, Captivate, International, and i9000b)
# The SGS2 i9100g
# P3 and P5 tablets
That list will grow as other devices become ready and receive the blessing from their maintainers to begin nightlies. Be sure to keep your eyes open for when your device joins the list.
Update: We’ve received various reports from XDA Forum Member Scotto70 and others that the Nexus 7 build is currently nonfunctional. So if you’ve got a N7, we recommend that you hold off for the time being!
August 1, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
Having a corrupt IMEI can be a real pain. It seems to happen randomly to flashaholics, and having the radio go down on a cell phone really defeats the purpose of owning a cell phone. Thankfully it is not problem that is overly common. Unfortunately, it does still happen. For AT&T Samsung Galaxy S III users, and in some cases users of the other US Galaxy S III variants, there are not one, but two ways to prevent this problem. There is now a tool that will back up your IMEI without much difficulty and a manual guide for those who prefer to dive into the nitty gritty.
The tool was developed by XDA Forum Member <:GeeK:>, while the manual method was written by XDA Senior Member Peoplearmy with some credited help from others. Both methods eventually perform the same task, which is backing up and restoring your IMEI, and each has its set of pros and cons. Without a doubt, the manual way is more involved. However, it actually supports all 4 US variants, although it hasn’t had to be tested on the Sprint version yet. The tool involves a much shorter and more simple—root free—process. Both methods also have tutorials on how to get your IMEI back if it is already corrupt. Between the two, they address every conceivable IMEI concern for the US Galaxy S III variants.
For more information, check out either the tool thread or the guide thread.
July 21, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
One of the files you often have to deal with when learning to theme is SystemUI.apk. Inside, you find a number of things that themers often play with such as the notification drop down, status bar, and icons. Modifying files can give users a good insight into how Android works, and thus help them become familiar with the files that make our devices run.
Thanks to XDA Recognized Developer freeza, there is now a set of tutorials to help get users get more familiar with editing SystemUI.apk on US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S III. The tutorial is actually comprised of a number of smaller tutorials including:
Custom notification pulldown background:
Remove battery full notification:
How to decompile troublesome ICS apks on the GS3:
How to remove Quick settings toggle text or hide Quick Settinsg toggle:
How to change carrier label:
With more likely on the way, this is an excellent start for beginners to become more acquainted with the inner workings of the OS, as well as some of the tools used to modify these files. Plus, who doesn’t like custom notification drop down backgrounds?
To learn more, head over to the original thread.
July 18, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
As the percentage of newer Android devices with NFC chips gets higher and higher, so too does the number of people actually using it. It is no surprise to learn that NFC-based development is on the rise, and will likely continue until the dedicated developers have perfected usage of the technology. That said, it’s not quite perfect for some who would rather have NFC functionality when the screen is off or locked. This no longer has to be the case for owners of the International Samsung Galaxy S III and a couple of the US variants.
XDA Forum Member mayhemer has developed a modification enables NFC functionality when the screen is off and the device is locked. The mod is available for the International Galaxy S III, as well as the AT&T and Sprint variants.
To install the mod, users only need to flash the mod in custom recovery and reboot. Afterward, NFC should be usable even with the phone screen off or locked down. Unfortunately for CM fans, there are currently some compatibility problems with CyanogenMod 9. The mod for US variants is currently untested, so it’s unclear what works and what doesn’t. It has also been announced that any further compatibility—i.e. the other US variants—and bug fixes will have to wait until August. Additionally, it should be noted that it’s unclear how this will affect applications like Google Wallet. Since NFC is active with the phone screen off, that could make Google Wallet accessible even while in your pocket. While users still have to enter in a pin to use the actual Wallet app, this potentially removes one barrier to Wallet entry. Basically, be sure to take proper precautions.
For additional information, follow the links to below to their respective threads.
July 17, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
Jelly Bean has been flying around the forums at speeds approachable only by certain science fiction spaceships. With numerous ports ranging from SDK ports to unofficial CM10 ports and source-built AOSP ROMs, XDA has not been short on Jelly Bean since its debut. There’s even been talk of official CyanogenMod 10 being readied for release. For the US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S III, official preview builds are now available.
How official are these builds, one might ask? Well, the big man himself, XDA Recognized Developer cyanogen posted CyanogenMod 10 for the AT&T and T-Mobile versions himself. Heading up the Sprint version is XDA Recognized Developer noobnl.
Although the versions are 100% official, they are still considered preview builds, which means that there are some issues. The AT&T and T-Mobile versions seem to have the same issues, as posted by cyanogen:
* Overlay for UI (extra butter)- We’re waiting on CodeAurora to publish, UI is a little janky.
* Camera preview turns green during animations and may crash.
* Audio sometimes dies completely
* All the things.
The Sprint version has many of the same issues, posted by noobnl:
* Overlay for UI (extra butter)- We’re waiting on CodeAurora to publish, UI is a little janky.
* Camera preview turns green during animations and may crash.
* MMS downloading doesn’t work but sending & retrieving does work, use a 3rd party SMS/MMS app that can download them.
* All the things.
As CM10 gets more complete—and as more features are merged from CM9—users can expect these ROMs to get really good within a respectable amount of time. Cyanogen has stated that he actually does use the T-Mobile version as his daily driver. So despite the errors, the ROMs appear to be stable enough for daily use. That said, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
For more details, download links, and more, click the links below.
July 12, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
There has always been a small rivalry between Samsung and HTC owners regarding which OEM produces better devices. Each new generation restarts the battle, as HTC and Samsung release increasingly powerful devices. However, one thing that Samsung and HTC owners have in common is that they’re not iPhone owners. Thanks to Apple, HTC and Samsung owners now have another thing in common: They’ve lost phone functionality because of Apple’s ridiculous patent war.
We brought you news of HTCLinkify and how to remove it. Now, it’s Samsung’s turn. The Sprint Galaxy S III recently got a “security” update that removed universal searches. As PC World explains:
Universal search allows you to search through your entire phone’s data from the Google search bar on the home screen. You just type in what you would like to find, and it returns results from your music, contacts, apps, email, contacts and the Web.
As you may have guessed by now, this comes in the wake of yet another Apple patent infringement lawsuit that saw Samsung in violation of a number of patents. Universal search was one of those.
Here at XDA Developers, we enjoy our universal search. That’s why the Sprint Galaxy S III community has found a way to get it back. XDA Senior Member eyecon82 originally posted a thread to troubleshoot the issue and the the issue was quickly solved. For rooted users, the solution is quite simple. All that needs to be done is to grab the original GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk file, which has been conveniently pulled and uploaded, and push it into /system/app using ADB or your favorite root explorer. For non rooted users, simply install the apk file. Unfortunately, for non-rooted users, the app breaks upon reboot, so it’s a good idea to keep the apk file on your SD card to re-install when you restart.
It doesn’t matter what Apple tries to take away, we’ll find a way to bring it back. For additional information, check out the original thread.
[Photo credit: PC World]
July 12, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
Toolkits are known around XDA as a way for users to get a whole bunch of functionality in a single place. Typically, toolkits give users the ability to root, flash custom recoveries, install drivers, and a myriad of other features depending on the phone. One of the main advantages is that they often make easy what would otherwise be a cumbersome modification, all while giving the user an interface they can understand. For three out of the four US Galaxy S III variants, there is now a toolkit that does these things and more.
Developed by XDA Senior Moderator and Recognized Developer mskip, who’s also responsible for similar toolkits on the Galaxy Nexus and international Galaxy S III, the toolkits follow in the footsteps of their predecessors on other devices. As with the versions for other devices, they do not skimp on the features, which include:
Install drivers automatically
Backup/Restore a single package or all apps, user data and Internal Storage
Backup your /data/media (virtual SD Card) to your PC for a Full Safe backup of data
Perform a FULL NANDROID Backup of your system via adb and save in Custom Recovery format on your PC
Pull /data and /system folders, compress to a .tar file and save to your PC
Backup/Restore your /efs partition
Dump selected Phone Partitions, compress to a .zip file with md5 and save to your PC
Install BusyBox binary on phone
Root any public build (different options available)
Rename Stock Recovery restore files (to stop Stock Recovery flashing on reboot)
Flash CWM Recovery v4 from Team Epic
Flash Stock Recovery
Download, Extract and Flash Stock Rom via Odin (full steps)
Install a single apk or multiple apk’s to your phone
Push Files from your PC to your phone
Pull Files from your phone to your PC
Set Files Permissions on your phone
Dump selected LogCat buffers to your PC
Dump BugReport to your PC (if installed)
Help, Information Screen for various tasks
Mods Section to Modify your phone
Reboot Phone options in adb mode
ToolKit options section (Change background + text colour in ToolKit, change Model/Build, set Model Selection Screen On/Off)
This toolkit is not to be used on any non-Snapdragon Galaxy S III as the images are incompatible and will cause issues. Additionally, the Verizon variant is not yet supported, perhaps as a result of the locked bootloader or because it was released later than the other three.
To get started, head over to the appropriate toolkit support thread:
July 1, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
It has been generally agreed upon that Samsung making all of their U.S. Galaxy S III phones nearly identical is a great thing. It is a very rare occurrence when developers from GSM phones and CDMA phones get to work together on development for a single device, and should bring about a lot of development. Despite most of the hardware and software being identical, there are some differences between the variants. The most obvious being the radio, as the four carriers all use different networks to some extent. There could very well be a lot more.
To help future development, XDA Recognized Developer incubus26jc has started a comprehensive list of differences between the devices. The point of the list is to help developers create ROMs and other development that is compatible for all versions of the Galaxy S III.
Thus far, the list is short as developers haven’t had much of a chance to dig into the devices on all four carriers yet. The major differences identified include the radios, model numbers and variations in storage size have been identified. Some solutions have even been discussed, such as using the popular AROMA Installer to let users choose which carrier they’re using, so the ROM knows what to install. As devices get released and developers dig deeper, the list is bound to grow, so any developer interested in developing on the U.S. Galaxy S III should definitely have a look.
For more information, head over to the original thread to get started.
June 27, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
It is inevitable for nearly all devices with heavy development that the occasional mistake is made and a device goes down. This is commonly referred to as bricking, and there are different kinds of bricks—soft and hard. While hard bricks are nearly impossible to fix without OEM support, soft bricks can usually be brought back. With the U.S. variants of the Galaxy S III, there’s already a soft bricking problem going around. Thankfully, there’s also a fix going around.
XDA Senior Moderator and Recognized Developer mskip has released a solution for users who accidentally soft bricked their devices trying to flash a GSM boot image. The devices are brand new, so there’s still a question of what works and what doesn’t, and flashing a GSM boot image is apparently one of those things that doesn’t work.
Each variant has their own files, but the process is identical. Users simply need to download their phone’s stock boot image and flash it via Odin. This should fix the issue and restore the phone to working status. It should be noted that these files are not factory tarballs wherein this won’t work if you need to restore to a stock, unrooted ROM. These fix only the GSM boot image brick issue. As stated, the process is identical but the files are different so be sure you pick up the file for your variant.
Those in need of unbricking should head to the Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile threads.
June 23, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
With a device as popular as the Samsung Galaxy S III, achieving root on all variants is high priority. Now, all three U.S. carrierversions, the Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T Galaxy S III have been rooted.
With so many phones getting root all at once, there are quite a few XDA members responsible—XDA Senior Member howtomen for the AT&T version, XDA Forum Member cypher_zero for the Sprint and T-Mobile version, and XDA Forum Member dawgslayer69 for posting that the cypher_zero’s Sprint method is compatible with the T-Mobile variant. Cypher_zero’s method actually comes from XDA Recognized Developer noobnl‘s original root and recovery method for Sprint variant, just made a bit more digestible for new users.
The process is what has become the standard for rooting most Samsung devices. Users will be directed to use the latest version of Odin to flash a kernel and ClockworkMod Recovery onto the device, and then use ClockworkMod Recovery to flash root. The only difference is the files being used.
The AT&T method has it’s own files and is confirmed working. In a surprising twist, the Sprint and T-Mobile root methods are actually identical. Although there were initially some doubts, the method has been confirmed working. It may actually probably be possible to root the AT&T version with the Sprint / T-Mobile method as well, as it’s been reported that the kernel is universal between all three, but for now it’s safest to stick with the procedures that work.
Head over to the appropriate root thread to get started:
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